ECSD Technology Newsletter

Digital Subscriptions in Elbert County

We are very fortunate to have lots of instructional tools at our disposal in the Elbert County School District. I know that with everything going on we may get overwhelmed with instruction. For this addition and for next week I wanted to highlight some of the district subscriptions and also offer after school virtual professional learning on some of our programs that our offered district wide.

Text Help

Text Help (Read & Write for Google, Equatio). - This software is available to All students in our district. This is an extension that is pushed out to student chromebook and teacher laptops. Students are able to hear text and web pages read aloud. Teacher's are able to leave authentic voice comments on student work in Google Docs. Also, we have a program called Equatio where students and teachers can insert math into Gsuite created lessons. There is also an option to create "math spaces" which is almost like having a smartboard on your chromebook! For more information you can check out the Text Help Training Portal , attend an after school PL, or contact Clint.

WeVideo

Wevideo is a FANTASTIC way for students to create. I have really been proud of the products that I have seen from our students and staff in Elbert County. What is so great about Wevideo is that students can CREATE just about anything. There is a place for Green screens, create audio podcasts, easy to use video editing tools, and now the ability to make Gifs.

PL Opportunities

Clint will be offering the following Virtual PL classes after school during October. I had great feedback from some teachers who attended in September that it would be great if I recorded these classes. I will be recording and posting these PL classes for October and November! You still need to sign up to receive the recording. Use the following link to sign up

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe3uTWcoz7ywJK2ISO7lPa84Hw6UGYOcN_LQ5HonU4f4Q9Qww/viewform?usp=sf_link

October 15th - Read and Write for Google and Equatio

October 22nd - Wevideo for student engagement and creativity

October 29th - The Instructional Technology Call in Show

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Text Help October 15th

3:30 - 4:30 - Overview of Text help Equatio followed by instructional strategies of how to use this in the classroom.

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WeVideo October 22nd - 3:30 - 4:30

How to roster and create classes in WeVideo

Ideas and engagement using Wevideo

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The first Ever ECSD Instructional Technology Call in Show - October 29th

I 'm pretty excited about this. Ever since I was a kid I have enjoyed the old call in show. Basically this hour will be a time for anyone to call in on our Google Meet to ask any question about Instructional Technology. I am trying to line up a few celebrity instructional tech guests to join in on the call in show.

Tech Tool Kit for Families and Guardians

Google has recently published resources for teachers to share with families to learn more about the Google Suite for Education. I think that this is a great way for us to be able to better familiarize our families with Google for Education. Below is the link to the document

TECH Toolkit for Families and Guardians

Pear Deck Support

We are fortunate to be able to have the new tool "Pear Deck" in Elbert County. This is a tool to make google slides interactive for all students. Teachers who attended the 1:1 bootcamp before school started were able to hear about these features. Below are a couple of resources about Pear Deck. If you would like to learn more I will be leading a virtual training at 3:30 on August 24th. You can sign up HERE

Getting Started with Pear Deck

Cool Things you Can Do

Pear Deck Knowledge Base